Good day and welcome to the Royal Gold Inc. Fiscal 2021 First Quarter Conference Call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. [Operator Instructions] After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. [Operator Instruction] Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Alistair Baker. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Good morning and welcome to our discussion of Royal Gold’s first quarter of 2021 results. This event is being webcast live and you will be able to access a replay of this call on our website. Participating on the call today are Bill Heissenbuttel, President and CEO; Paul Libner, CFO and Treasurer; and Mark Isto, Executive Vice President and COO; Dan Breeze, Vice President, Corporate Development of RG AG; and Randy Shefman, General Counsel are also available for questions. During today's call, we will make forward-looking statements, including statements about our projections or expectations for the future. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those statements. These risks and uncertainties are discussed in today's press release and our filings with the SEC. We will also refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted net income, adjusted net income per share, and net debt and net cash. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are available in the press release, which can be found on our website. Bill will give you an overview of the quarter; followed by Mark with an update on our operating results; Paul will then provide a financial update; and Bill will wrap up the call with some closing comments. We'll then open the lines for a Q&A session. Now I'll turn the call over to Bill.

Good morning, and thank you for joining the call. Before beginning, I would like to remind you that Royal Gold continues to operate remotely, and the coordination of our responses to your questions may be impacted. I'll begin on Slide 4. Our first quarter was a strong start to fiscal 2021, and we recognized record revenue of $147 million driven by solid operating results across the portfolio, combined with higher gold, silver and copper prices. GEO volume for the quarter was $77,000, with 85% of revenue sourced from precious metals. The strong revenue and low fixed costs of our business produced healthy earnings and cash flow. Earnings for the quarter were $107 million or $1.63 per share after adjustments, which Paul will comment on in more detail, earnings were $54 million or $0.82 per share. Operating cash flow came in at $94 million. In addition to the strong financial performance, we also completed two transactions this quarter, both of which carry strategic importance. The first was the sale of our ownership interest in the Peak Gold project to Kinross. Peak is a unique project, and we got involved a few years ago through a low-risk earn-in arrangement. We always said the strategy was to advance the project as far as we could and then transfer our ownership to a company with the experience, the commitment to the highest environmental and social standards and the financial strength to move the project forward from there. We worked over the past five years to define the value of the resource and the time came this year to transfer our interest to a company with permitting, development and operating capability. Kinross, with a long and successful history of operating responsibly in Alaska, was the ideal candidate. We received cash of $61 million for our…

Thanks, Bill. Our portfolio performed well during the quarter. In particular, throughput at Mount Milligan was consistently strong, and given stored water inventory, Centerra does not expect any interruptions to operations in the medium term due to water. Rainy River had an excellent quarter with mill throughput reaching a record of 27,000 tons per day, bumping up against the maximum allowable under their existing permit. Wassa, which I'll speak to in a little more detail in a few minutes, also saw record underground production, which approached 5,000 tons per day. Now moving on to Slide 5. I'll give an update of the Khoemacau project in Botswana, currently under development, called Khoemacau Copper Mining, KCM. At the end of the quarter, on September 28, the government of Botswana extended the COVID-19 state of emergency for a further six months from September to March 2021. Although mining remains designated an essential service, Khoemacau is impacted by travel restrictions imposed as part of the emergency mandate. These restrictions are complicating the movement of national and expat personnel and delays are being experienced in delivery of materials and equipment at site. While construction and mining activities are generally progressing well, there have been some delays in select areas of the project due to additional in-country lockdowns during the quarter. KCM is monitoring the situation closely and continues to expect shipment of first concentrate late in the third quarter of calendar 2021, consistent with what we reported in our last quarterly call. Despite these challenges, KCM continues to show excellent progress in advancing underground development and overall construction completion reached approximately 70% at the end of September, with 87% of total capital committed. We made our fifth contribution to the advanced screen payment on October 5th of $32.5 million and have now advanced approximately $179…

Thanks Mark. I'll turn your attention to Slide 9 and give an overview of the financial results for the quarter. For purposes of this discussion, I'll be comparing the first quarter of fiscal 2021 to the prior quarter. We recorded record revenue of $147 million on volume of 76,900 gold equivalent ounces or GEOs. The increase in our revenue when compared to the prior quarter was mainly due to increase metal prices as the average price of gold, silver and copper were up 30%, 43% and 13% respectively. From a volume standpoint, our GEOs were down just under 5% when compared to the prior year, primarily due to lower gold sales from our Mount Milligan stream. The lower gold stream sales at Mount Milligan however were partially offset by higher royalty contributions from Peñasquito. Gold continues to be the most significant revenue driver and accounted for 75% of our total revenue for the current quarter, with silver at about 10%. The contribution from copper increased to approximately 11% compared to 8% in the prior year quarter. The copper increase in the current period was due to stronger copper sales from Mount Milligan. G&A expense for the quarter was $7.5 million in line with $7.4 million in the prior year quarter. Our G&A expense, which also includes non-cash compensation expense, was in line with a typical quarter, and is what we anticipate going forward absent any large or unusual items. Our DD&A expense for the quarter was $46.3 million or $602 per GEO, up from $480 per GEO in the prior year quarter. The increase in our DD&A expense during the quarter was primarily due to higher copper sales from Mount Milligan and higher gold sales at Pueblo Viejo, partially offset by lower gold sales at Andacollo. The increase in our…

Thanks, Paul. Our financial and operating performance in the first fiscal quarter provided us a strong start to fiscal 2021. Our portfolio is performing well, and our balance sheet is in excellent shape. We expect the current macroeconomic climate to remain positive for precious metal prices in the near term. And while the recent gold price strength is good for our underlying business, we are also mindful of long-term returns as we consider new business opportunities. In the meantime, the stronger gold price is increasing the value of optionality in our portfolio. For example, in Australia, we're seeing some interesting developments at Red 5's King of the Hills project, where we have a 1.5% NSR on a 16-year life, 2.4 million ounce gold reserve, with first production targeted in mid-calendar 2022. Again, in Australia, Bellevue Gold is aggressively exploring and adding to the 2.3 million ounce resource at their Bellevue Gold project, where we have a 2% NSR. And finally, at Peak Gold, we have a 3% NSR on the area where Kinross is targeting to start production in 2024 of 1 million gold equivalent ounces over a 4.5-year mine life. I think we're in a great position, and I look forward to maintaining discipline and focus while we continue to deliver results for all shareholders. Operator, that concludes our prepared remarks, I'll now open the line for questions.

Thanks, operator, and thanks to all of you for taking the time to join us today. We certainly appreciate your interest in Royal Gold, and we look forward to updating you on our progress during our next quarterly call. Take care.

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.